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For decades, Steven Spielberg has proven that he can put anything on a movie screen. But even history’s most successful director faced a daunting challenge with his latest movie, an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s children’s book “The BFG.

It’s been six years since Alice went down the rabbit hole in Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland.” Since then, Mia Wasikowska has established herself as a leading lady, but the 26-year-old returns to play Lewis Carroll’s mischievous creation in the Warner Bros.

Frank Marshall has produced more summer blockbusters than just about anybody — this side of his wife Kathleen Kennedy and their frequent collaborator Steven Spielberg, anyway. The Indiana Jones, Back to the Future and Jason Bourne series, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and “The Sixth Sense” are among Marshall’s 100-plus producing credits, as is “Jurassic World,” last year’s return to Spielberg’s dinosaur franchise that became the highest-grossing ($652 million domestic, $1.

May 4 A Bigger Splash: Tilda Swinton is a rock legend holed up on an island with her partner (Matthias Schoenaerts) when an old flame (Ralph Fiennes) unexpectedly arrives with his sexy daughter (Dakota Johnson).

Who you gonna call when you’re trying to make a new “Ghostbusters” film? For Ivan Reitman, who directed the original in 1984 and its sequel five years later, it was Paul Feig, who has been on hot streak with “Bridesmaids, “Heat” and “Spy.

It happens every summer. Sequels, reboots, superheroes and supersized TV shows jam the multiplexes, and the 2016 summer movie season is no different. In fact, this year looks kind of worse in that regard, at least percentage-wise, as there are fewer independent releases scheduled between the first week of May and Labor Day than we saw in 2014 and 2015.

No, filming “Everest” was not as difficult or dangerous as climbing Mt. Everest. But Baltasar Kormakur’s movie about the 1996 Himalayan storm that left eight dead — the highest mortality toll on Earth’s highest peak at the time — was no walk in the park.

It’s always been fascinating how a society’s traumas get interpreted, often indirectly, by national cinemas. Consider how Germany’s defeat in World War I and the harsh terms of the victors led to the shadowy nightmares of 1920s expressionism.

If you love movies and the outdoors, it’s possible to combine both passions this summer — on the beach, near L.A. landmarks and even at a cemetery that is the final resting place for many Hollywood luminaries.

George Clooney feels pretty optimistic about the future and technology, although he is worried about privacy and drones over his house. We’ll get to that later. First, the two-time Oscar winner is starring in “Tomorrowland,” from director Brad Bird (“Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol,” “The Incredibles”) with a screenplay by “Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof and Bird.

We’re in the summer movie season, when all of those big, loud action films for boys take up multiplex space, and the women who don’t go for all that business are traditionally expected to watch Lifetime for the next four months.

Disney’s latest attempt to turn one of its theme park attractions, Tomorrowland, into a hit movie comes with pretty good specs. At the helm is Brad Bird, who directed the acclaimed Pixar animated films “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille” and made his live-action debut with the inventive “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol.

MAY 1 AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON: The fate of the planet again hangs in the balance as the band of Marvel superheroes led by Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) must face an artificial-intelligence program (created by Tony) that has gone rogue.

The summer movie season starts Friday with the release of “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” The follow-up to Marvel’s record-breaking superhero mash-up is expected to enjoy the biggest opening weekend of any sequel in history.

Much of the Golden State may come crashing down in the new disaster movie “San Andreas.” But like many things for star Dwayne Johnson these days, it’s all about family. “The movie is about the largest earthquake ever recorded hitting California, and the effects of that,” explains the professional wrestler, known as The Rock, turned “Fast and Furious” movie star.

Jonathan Demme has won an Oscar (“The Silence of the Lambs”) and also has directed loads of Academy Award-winning performances. He’s also made music documentaries featuring the likes of Neil Young, Talking Heads, Kenny Chesney and Robyn Hitchcock.

Peter Parker and his alter ego have a lot on their plate. Besides saving New York City, sometimes from itself, Spider-Man has to defeat three bad guys while Parker struggles with the on-off romantic relationship with Gwen Stacy.

Juno Temple has appeared in more than 30 movies since starting her career in earnest with “Notes on a Scandal” in 2006. This summer, the busy 24-year-old has two coming out: the refocused Sleeping Beauty story “Maleficent” (May 30) and comic book noir “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” (Aug.

Are you ready to rumble — or be rumbled? Summer movie time means that all those massive sound systems at the multiplex will be cranked up to one notch above “rattle every bone in audience’s body,” starting with Friday’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” from Sony.

May 2 The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Andrew Garfield returns as Peter Parker/Spidey along with Emma Stone as girlfriend Gwen Stacy to take on Jamie Foxx’s Electro, Dane DeHaan’s Green Goblin and Paul Giamatti’s Rhino in the second installment of the superhero reboot.

As Caesar, the leader of the intellectualized simians in “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” (July 11), the world’s premier performance-capture actor, Andy Serkis, must respond convincingly to group and family conflicts, not to mention a resurgent human threat.

Dave Bautista apologizes for his raspy phone voice. “Sorry if I sound a little weird, I got kicked in the throat,” the WWE and MMA superstar says. “I get beat up more doing professional wrestling than in mixed martial arts.

It had been three years since Tate Taylor directed his big Southern history hit “The Help,” and he just hadn’t found the proper follow-up film. “I was at Imagine Entertainment on a meeting for another project, and in passing, I overheard that they had just gotten in the James Brown script that had been in development for, basically, 17 years in various ways,” the actor-turned-filmmaker says.